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Friday, April 04, 2008

Working under the name Frosty Freeze, Frost joined the second iteration of the Rock Steady Crew, centred on Manhattan. In 1982, the Crew danced at The Ritz, sharing a stage with Bow Wow Wow and Afrika Bambaataa. This provided them with a valuable connections which would turn them from a New York sideshow into, briefly, one of the most prominent names in hip-hop - they were taken under the wing of Bambaataa's Zulu Nation and propelled to international fame: a top ten single in the UK, a major part on a package tour of Europe. And a part in Flashdance.

It went a bit sour after the UK record deal, though, in which the group were first shafted by Charisma and then - after Virgin bought Charisma - they saw themselves dropped. The fall-out split the Crew; Frost would not participate in the 1991 revival. He did join with some of his former colleagues in 2004 for a VH1 awards ceremony.

Wayne continued to appear at Hip Hop events in his home state of New York, up until he fell seriously ill at the start of this year. He died yesterday at the age of 44.